A ship taking food to Gaza has just left Larnaca.
The charity ship Open Arms was seen sailing out of the harbour towing a barge. The journey is expected to take between 1-2 days, but the final destination remains unknown.
The ship is carrying 150 tons of dry food, water and some medical supplies. The boat had been expected to leave over the weekend, but was delayed due to unspecified ‘technical reasons’
The opening of a maritime aid corridor is a joint project of the European Commission, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, the Republic of Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates, Britain, and the United States.
On Friday, the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the immediate launch of a project to establish a maritime aid corridor from Cyprus to Gaza.
“We are now very close to opening this corridor, hopefully this Saturday-Sunday, and I’m very glad to see an initial pilot will be launched today,” she told journalists after visiting Cyprus’s Joint Rescue Coordination Center in the port city of Larnaca.
More later.
